MATRAVERS School is supporting a campaign to improve the funding of England’s schools, which campaigners say are at ‘crisis point’.
According to the School Cuts coalition of unions who are campaigning for schools to be better funded, Matravers will have lost out on nearly three quarters of a million pounds of funding between 2015 and 2020, even if recent Government promises of extra cash for schools go ahead. It amounts to over £200 loss of funding per pupil per year.
The majority of Westbury’s primary schools are also facing a large drop in funding next year.
Matravers’ headteacher, Dr Simon Riding has highlighted the inequality of funding between schools in England saying that schools in Hackney, London, can receive over £2,500 per pupil more every year than a pupil at Matravers.
This is despite the recent promise by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ‘level up’ the funding of England’s schools with billions more in spending over the next three years. The School Cuts coalition says that the investment ‘falls short’ and does not ‘fully reverse the cuts suffered since 2015’.
Dr Riding, told White Horse News, “Whilst Matravers School has been extremely successful at generating external funding for major infrastructure projects, we are disappointed that the core funding we receive per pupil has reduced in real terms over the years.
“Parents may be surprised to hear that the funding schools receive for each pupil is different across the country and that Wiltshire is the 7th worst funded area out of 154 Local Authorities. As an example, a school in Hackney can receive over £2,500 per pupil more every year than a pupil at Matravers School. If we were funded at the same level this would give us an additional £1.75m every year.
“We are fortunate that our skilled and dedicated staff work extremely hard to provide an extensive range of additional activities for our pupils to benefit from, despite the lower funding we receive.
“We do not believe it fair that a child’s education in Westbury is worth less than a child’s education elsewhere in the country. We would welcome a funding system that provided a level-playing field across the country, valuing the education of all children regardless of where they happen to live.”
More information about the ‘School Cuts’ coalition’s campaign can be found on www.schoolcuts .org.uk
